There is no ‘bucket list’ - Lynne and I are both well, thank you – but we have arrived at a point in our lives where we have the time, the money and the good health to indulge in a passion for travel. We know how lucky and privileged we are to be able to do this, and we know it won’t last for ever, but while it does…..

Wednesday, 30 November 2016

The Peak, Markets and a Trip to Ap Lei Chau: Part 7 of Hong Kong and Macau

29/11/2016

In 2004, on the first morning of our first trip to Hong Kong, we took the tram up Victoria Peak. It was time to do it again.

After a leisurely start - best not to tangle with the
rush hour – we took the MTR under the harbour to Admiralty and walked to the Peak
Tram Station, pausing to admire the towers of Central.

The towers of Central, Hong Kong

Victoria Peak, more usually ‘The Peak’ is, at 552m (1,811ft), the highest
point on Hong Kong Island – though there are considerably higher peaks in the
New Territories. For most of the year Hong Kong is hot and humid and the more
temperate climate of The Peak attracted the early European settlers. It remains
a desirable place to live, boasting the world’s highest property prices.

The Peak, on Hong Kong Island, is due south of Central and one third of the way to the south coast

In the early days residents reached their homes by sedan chair. Warning: digressionary rant approaching. The sedan
chair, along with the (man hauled) rickshaw, must be the most offensive forms of
transport devised by man. If you take a taxi or even a cycle rickshaw you are
saying, ‘I can drive/cycle, but I don’t have a car/bicycle available so I
will hire yours.’ Taking a sedan chair was saying ‘I can walk, but I’m too
important, you carry me.'

Difficulty of access limited development until the Peak
Tram (actually a funicular railway, not a tram) opened in 1888.

The Peak Tram arrives at the lower terminus

The tram, which climbs 400m in a distance of 1.4km,
originally had wooden carriages hauled by a static steam engine but over the years has undergone
frequent upgrades and the occasional rebuild. Despite limited to
Peak residents it carried a remarkable 800 passengers on its opening day, now
open to all it transports 17,000 on an average day.

Lynne - one of today's 17,000 - waiting to set off

The well-documented optical illusion of the nearby
towers appearing to be falling backwards into the mountain, is quite alarming.
Being an illusion caused by motion it cannot be photographed so here is a
view up the track instead.

The Peak Tram is on the way

The upper terminus is located in the Peak Tower shopping
complex. In 2004 we had difficulty finding our way out and having become no
cleverer in the past 12 years we again spent time travelling up and down
escalators seeking the exit. Perhaps they do not want potential customers escaping
easily - or maybe at all, the interior reminded me of a scene from Labyrinth where David Bowie’s Goblin
King tries to prevent Sarah from rescuing her infant brother.

Inside the Peak Tower at the upper terminus

Egress was finally achieved! 150m below the summit (occupied
by a telecommunications facility and closed to the public) is a round-Peak
walk. We paused after a couple of minutes walking to admire(?) the Peak Tower from the outside. Locally it is known as The Flying Wok.

The Peak Tower - or Flying Wok

On a good day the walk offers magnificent views, and
it had been a good day when we set off. Sadly by the time we reached the top the
mist had descended and whether looking east over Wan Chai and Causeway Bay….

Looking east over Wan Chai and Causeway Bay

….or north over Central and across to Kowloon, the
mist was the clear winner.

Looking over Central and across to Kowloon

We had a better day in 2004 but back in the days of
film we took fewer pictures. The 2004 photo below is essentially the same scene,
though concentrating on Kowloon rather than Central. The grassy point this side
of the Yau Ma Tei Typhoon shelter is now the West Kowloon Cultural District –
and no longer grassy.

Looking over Central and across to Kowloon, July 2004

Trying to photograph anything more distant was a waste
of time, but I include a murky view of Lama Island as we walked across it on Thursday
(see The
Transit of Lama) from the dimly visible power station to the bay on the
left hand edge of the picture.

Lama Island

We completed our circumambulation of The Peak, a pleasant walk, if a poor photo opportunity,
took the tram down and returned to Kowloon to find a lunch of beef and fried
noodles.

In the afternoon we wandered through the food markets in
and around Reclamation Street.

The regular meat market sold good quality produce….

Meat, Reclamation Street, Hong Kong

...as did the fruit and veg stalls.

Fruit and Veg, Reclamation Street, Hong Kong

The seafood area was more interesting, with large
crabs….

Large crabs, Reclamation Street, Hong Kong

….and assorted sea cucumbers.

Sea cucumbers, Reclamation Street, Hong Kong

Tofu looks like cheese but the rich smell of Pont l’Eveque is absent. Although most tofu is bland, taking on the flavours of whatever it is
cooked with, there is a ‘stinky tofu’ which smells far worse than the ripest of
cheeses. It is not much sold in Hong Kong but can be found as street food (or
so I read, I have not encountered it).

Rat on a stick? Could be something else, Reclamation Street, Hong Kong

It was our last full day, so in the evening we returned to the Woo
Sung Street Temporary Food Hawkers Bazaar, ramshackle purveyors of fine Chinese
food.

Woo Sung Street Temporary Food Hawkers Bazaar

Feeling unadventurous we stuck with favourites new, the
mottled spinefoot we discovered last Wednesday, and old, lemon chicken - a
distant relative of the dish available from every Chinese take-away in Britain.

Our last day, but as we did not have to be at the airport
until the evening….

...we took the bus to Ap Lei Chau to see Brian and
Hilary, now residents of Torquay,
for 20 years before that residents of Stafford and for 20 years before that
residents of Hong Kong, where their son and daughter both now live. Friends for
many years, they have spent much of the last week showing us parts of Hong Kong
and Macau we had not met before.

Conveniently the 171 bus stops in Gascoigne Road, 50m
from our hotel. It travels south east to the Cross Harbour Tunnel….

Entering the Cross Harbour Tunnel to Hong Kong Island

…emerges in Wan Chai….

Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island

..and then heads straight for the Aberdeen Tunnel.

Entering the Aberdeen Tunnel, Hong Kong Island

Once on the south side of Hong Kong Island it is a
short trip to the Ap Lei Chau bridge. Instructed to get off directly after the
bridge we almost missed the stop; the bridge, crossing the neck of water between
Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau Harbours, is low key and we were looking for something
more obvious.

Ap Lei Chau lies just off the south coast of Hong Kong Island

Ap Lei Chau (lit: Duck Tongue Island) is a small
island off Hong Kong’s south coast. Formerly known as Aberdeen Island its single
settlement was shown on a Ming Dynasty Map as Heung Kong Tsuen (lit: Fragrant
Harbour Village) so it may well be the original ‘Hong Kong’. Its 1.4km² are
home to 87,000 people, making it (according to the ever-reliable Wikipedia) the
second most densely populated island on earth. Warning:
Digressionary Factoid Approaching. Wikipedia’smost
densely populated, Ilet a Bruee off the coast of Haiti, could hardly be more
different. This isolated scrap of land smaller than a football pitch is home to
500, giving it a population density of 125,000 people per km² almost twice Ap
Lei Chau’s 67,000. The curious might enjoy Is
This the most Crowded Island in the World (and Why that Question Matters),
an informative and thoughtful article by Alex McGregor.

One of Ap Lei Chau’s inhabitants is Brian and Hilary’s
daughter Lauren. Brian met us at the bus stop and we walked back to Lauren’s apartment
where they were staying.

Lauren lives in one of a group of towering up-market apartment
blocks beside the harbour. Accommodation in Hong Kong is ludicrously expensive so
the apartment is tiny (though bigger than the one our daughter and son-in-law
lived in when they taught English on the Chinese mainland) but redeemed by a balcony
overlooking Ap Lei Chau harbour. The sun had decided to shine today, so the
four of us (Lauren was at work!) had coffee on the balcony.

Ap Lei Chau Harbour

The Jumbo Floating
Restaurant (just above the tree tops on the left in the picture above) is world famous, but
generally regarded as a tourist trap rather than a gastronomic resource.

After coffee we took a walk
round the island’s northern shore. Although the harbour has many expensive
yachts, at ground level it is easier to see it has working craft, too.

Ap Lei Chau harbour

In June Aberdeen hosts a Dragon
Boat racing festival, and the boats were stored beside the harbour.

Dragon Boats, Ap Lei Chau

Further round we posed
with the tower blocks of Aberdeen in the background…

The tower blocks of Aberdeen

We also dropped into the
Hung Shing Temple.

Hung Shing Temple, Ap Lei Chau

Hung Shing was a Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) government
official who was so wise and righteous he was made a saint and continues to guard
people, particularly fishermen, against natural disasters.

Hung Shing Temple, Ap Lei Chau

A little shopping for
lunch also involved a look round some of the food stalls.

Sea food on sale, Ap Lei Chau

Back at Lauren’s
apartment we had beer on the balcony and then a lunch of corn cobs, ham and smoked
duck sandwiches, and custard tarts. Then we sat on the balcony until it was
time to take the bus back to Kowloon – and that was pretty much it for this
trip.

A big thank you to Brian and Hilary for this
day and also The Transit of Lama, two days in Macau, and Sai Kung and the New
Territories – see links below. In all these posts I conspicuously failed to photograph them,
except at meals and occasional rear views.
I apologise, so in case there is any doubt, this is what they look like
from the front.

About Me

After teaching maths for thirty six years I discovered I was boring myself, never mind the poor unfortunate students, so I decided to retire. My wife retired at the same time, and this blog is the result……
Most of our travelling is in Europe and Asia, we prefer places where we don’t speak the language or, better still, read the alphabet.
We also travel in England and Wales, often (at least in my case) on foot, and many posts feature these walks.
Food and drink are important, too. We like to eat well and attempt to stick to the food of the country we are in. I’ll try pretty well anything and enjoy most of it.
I am a supporter of Amnesty International and believe it is important to travel with an open mind and open eyes.